Pricey friends-
Slightly over 15 years in the past I had a loopy thought: to try to begin a dialog asking the place the ladies had been in entrance of the digicam and behind the scenes in Hollywood. I referred to as my weblog Girls and Hollywood as a result of to me, Hollywood is in all places. My exploration grew right into a calling that I by no means anticipated. It allowed me to journey throughout the globe talking with others who had been passionate about this problem. The work helped beginning the Athena Movie Competition, which is now a full-fledged teenager at 13 years outdated.
Fifteen years later, the dialog is totally embedded in our tradition and is roofed by mainstream retailers. Girls, a few of whom received their begin at Girls and Hollywood, are working in all kinds of roles throughout the trade. It was not too way back that it was all the time a shock when a collection had a girl director as a part of its season. Now, it’s unacceptable in the event that they don’t. The work isn’t accomplished, removed from it, however in an effort to proceed the revolution, evolution is important.
It’s time for Girls and Hollywood 2.0.
As of April 1, The Girls and Hollywood weblog will now not be publishing unique tales. We are going to preserve the positioning dwell as a result of it has turn out to be a terrific useful resource, significantly for college students of the trade.
Don’t have any concern: I’ll nonetheless be launching the reality bombs and amplifying girls’s voices. However it is going to be differently. In Her Voice: A Girls and Hollywood Podcast will launch in April and it is going to be a spot the place I’ll cowl information and interview creatives. I’m excited to get again to speaking to the ladies who’re effecting change and effectively as these whose inventive visions are coming to our screens.
We are going to proceed the weekly publication of the Girls and Hollywood E-newsletter of content material by and about girls and non-binary individuals opening in theaters and streaming. The Ladies Membership, our group for ladies and nonbinary creatives to attach and assist one another, is prospering.
Over time, significantly by way of my work within the Artistic Improvement Program on the Athena Movie Competition, I’ve realized that I not solely wish to talk about the change that we have to see, however I wish to be part of it. To that finish, I will probably be launching the Artistic Doula Program. Half strategic guide, half doula, we would be the inventive advocates for these proficient voices and tasks written by girls or non-binary writers which have girls/women on the middle of the tales.
There are numerous individuals to thank for the success of Girls and Hollywood. First thanks goes to the Dobkin Household Basis for its continued assist. There could be no Girls and Hollywood with out the Dobkin Household Basis. The staff – writers, editors, fellows, interns, social media professionals. No person does this work alone. I’ve been so fortunate to have individuals who cared in regards to the work as passionately as I did, significantly Laura Berger, who satisfied me nearly a decade in the past that I wanted an intern and is now in control of every thing that goes on the positioning. Everybody who has been part of the work through the years has had an immense contribution in preserving girls entrance and middle within the narrative.
I wouldn’t be capable of make this shift if I didn’t imagine that I’d completed what I got down to do 15 years in the past. I couldn’t be extra thrilled that the dialog is prospering and sturdy and {that a} new era has taken up the mantle and is pushing for increasingly more change. I’m so excited to proceed to be part of this motion.
Onward,
Melissa
